Tag: National Cycle Network

DfT Looks at Changes to Road Safety Legislation

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The Department of Transport (DfT) has today made a series of important announcements relating to cycling. They have indicated that they are:

  • Consulting on proposed new offences of causing death or serious injury while cycling and changes to the existing offences of dangerous and careless cycling.
  • Reviewing parts of the Highway Code, including measures to counter the dangerous practice of ‘close passing’ by motorists when overtaking cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
  • Commissioning the Cycle Proofing Working Group to develop national guidance and best practice for cycling and walking infrastructure.
  • Providing £1 million to support pathfinder demonstration projects for repairing and upgrading sections of the National Cycle Network.

The proposed changes to cycling offences are a response to the death of Kim Briggs, who was killed by a cyclist in 2016. She died after being hit by Charlie Alliston, who was riding a ‘fixie’ bike that didn’t have a front brake, which is a legal requirement for use on the public highway.  Alliston was sentenced to 18 months in youth detention after being convicted of the 1861 offence of “wanton and furious driving”, which was seen by many as being disproportionately lenient and exposed the outdated nature of the existing legislation. The DfT is consulting on proposals for a new offence equivalent to causing death by careless or dangerous driving to be introduced for dangerous cycling.  The consultation runs for 12 weeks and closes on 12 August 2018.

The DfT is also looking at updating parts of the Highway Code to counter the dangerous practice of ‘close passing’. This will include a review of rule 163 of the Highway Code which says that motorists should ‘give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car’. Many people feel that this advice is unclear and with close pass incidents becoming more frequent on our congested roads, there is a pressing need to tackle the issue by setting and promoting absolute standards as has been done in other countries. The ‘close pass’ initiative pioneered by West Midlands Police and promoted by Cycling UK advocates a safe overtaking distance of at least 1.5m. This has been shown to be highly effective with significant reductions in the number of reported close pass incidents and the number of cyclists casualties.

Government has previously announced close pass training materials and support for police forces. However, with limited staff resources, close pass initiatives can only be deployed in a handful of areas. For example, Thames Valley Police and the Hampshire Constabulary are currently only targeting Oxford, Portsmouth and Southampton, which are the areas with the highest numbers of cyclist casualties. We would like to see money for more specialist road safety officers to roll this out across the whole of the Thames Valley.

As part of the Cycling and Walking Safety Review, the government has commissioned the Cycle Proofing Working Group to develop national guidance and best practice for cycling and walking infrastructure. Existing government guidance is widely seen as being outdated and inadequate, lagging behind European best practice and that produced by Transport for London.  Although we support the commitment to update national guidance and best practice advice, we feel that this will be of limited value unless it is accompanied by significant and ring-fenced funding that his allocated directly to local authorities.

Finally while we welcome the announcement that £1 million will be provided to support the pathfinder demonstration projects for repairing and upgrading sections of the National Cycle Network, we feel that this is woefully inadequate to address the problems with the NCN.  This token gesture will only tackle a handful of demonstration projects scattered across the UK and it would not even be sufficient to address the existing problems affecting the network in West Berkshire, where bank erosion and surfacing issues have made NCN4 virtually unusable by cyclists for much of its length. We would like to see a sustained commitment to significant investment in order to address the backlog of maintenance issues that are blighting the NCN.

We would be interested to hear the views of SPOKES members and other West Berkshire cyclists on the above issues, so please do get in touch and let us know what you think.

National Cycle Network Review

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Sustrans is currently undertaking a review of the National Cycle Network and is inviting people to respond to a survey about its future.  Sustrans was the originator of the NCN, bidding initially for £42 million of Lottery Funding to deliver the initial 5,000 mile network. The goal was subsequently increased to 10,000 miles and today, it has grown to a network of over 14,000 miles.

The survey is seeking input on a vision for the NCN and the characteristics that the network should aspire to. It goes on to ask about how the NCN should be improved. The final section of the survey asks about how important it is for local communities and individuals to be involved in looking after the National Cycle Network and what role they should have.

Spokes has been concerned for some time about the state of NCN4 within West Berkshire.  Much of the route follows the Kennet and Avon canal towpath and the wash from passing narrow boats has gradually eroded the banks, while boats pulling on mooring pegs have torn chunks out of the bank. Also, the the crushed aggregate path has narrowed over much of its length as a result of grass incursion to the extent that what was once a 2m wide path is now less than 30cm wide in places.   As a result, the condition of the towpath has deteriorated to the extent that certain sections are no longer considered safe to use by cyclists.

Through the Cycle Forum, Spokes has engaged with Sustrans, the Canal and River Trust and West Berkshire Council to highlight the problems. Although Sustrans has made efforts to undertake minor, routine tasks such as vegetation clearance through its volunteer network, it does not have ultimate responsibility for maintenance of the network. Similarly, the Canal and River Trust does not have sufficient funds to carry out all the improvements that are needed to bring NCN4 up to an acceptable standard.

West Berkshire Council has secured developer contributions from the racecourse housing site to upgrade the section of towpath towards Newbury Town Centre. However, there are no developments from which contributions can be levied to address the worst affected sections, which are in rural locations towards Marsh Benham and east of Colthrop.

Spokes is currently exploring options to secure grant funding through the Veolia Environmental Fund for the section to he east of Colthrop. However, even if the bid is successful, it will be just a drop in the ocean.

The National Cycle Network requires millions of pounds to be spent to bring it up to standard, but, unless more people express their concerns, then this funding will not be forthcoming. So please do take part in the Sustrans survey and ask them to lobby central government for the necessary funds to restore the NCN to a high quality walking and cycling network.